Dear Parent Friend…
If I were to distill all my parenting advice down to one sentence, it would be this:
Go to the beach.
This could mean, leave your kids at home and go rest on the beach to regain your sanity.
But, actually, I mean take your kids to the beach.
“No, the beach is too far,” I can hear you saying. “Galveston’s beaches are too gross,” is what you’re thinking. “It’s too cold/sandy/much of a rigamarole to go to the beach.”
Here’s what I’ve learned: everything with kids is sort of a rigamarole. Most of it is messy. And a lot of times, life with kids is (inexplicably) sandy.
You might as well be at the beach.
Because there’s something about the change in latitude that really does change everyone’s attitude. The crashing waves, the expansiveness, and the wide open spaces calm everyone’s frayed nerves. Kids who are addicted to Temple Run (this is MY KIDS I’m talking about) start playing catch with each other and dancing jigs and doing handstands. (To be clear, my kids do handstands all over the living room ALL THE TIME. The beach just gives them the space to not crash into one another).
And now, many, many pictures of our kids doing all those things at the beach.
I hope it works for you, too.
Tina
P.S. Yes, you will find sand in strange places for the next month. That will remind you to Get Back to the Beach!
